Monday, June 29, 2009

My little Donald O'Connor

The Bud is totally enamored with Donald O'Connor's number "Make 'Em Laugh" from Singing in the Rain.

He has been reenacting it for a few days now. He doesn't know all the words - but enough to make it pretty convincing. Key components to the reenactment include jumping down from someplace to start off the song (O'Connor jumps down from a piano at the beginning), hitting someone with a hat, sliding on the floor on your knees, spinning in a circle on the floor while laughing like crazy, and general jumping around with fancy leg kicks. Thankfully there have been no attempts to do the wall climbing flips. Whew!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Coffee-Boo on the Morning Deck

It's Monday, and I have no clear plan of when I will get out of my Jim-Jams for the day. I love summer!

So far we have done some stamping (note the blue ink on the arms and face of the Bud in the close-up pic below), played a little Chutes and Ladders, and had a coffee-boo on the morning deck.

Last week Mr. 5 made a deck in a day on the back side of our house (the side that faces the garage and driveway - a prime playing area). He has had some scrap lumber set aside for the project for awhile. The back side of our house is always shady until noon - perfect for enjoying a morning cup of coffee. The cabin deck on the other side of the house (which I love - don't get me wrong) gets blasted with sun until the evening.

It's the perfect size for a couple of chairs and a little table.

The Bud loves his "coffee-boo". Which should probably be spelled Coffee-bou after this place - which is where he first had a steamed milk with caramel syrup. I'm not sure how he decided on the name - they call it a reindeer drink there.

My brain is in "easy knitting only" mode. So I started a simple garter stitch shawl with an eyelet row every so often. The pattern calls for a ruffled edge with a crocheted picot edge on the ruffle. I plan to keep the ruffle, but not the crochet picot - that's a little too much frosting for me. Ravelry Link

I've been feeling a little under the weather with a summer cold for the past few days. With Cupcake along for the ride, I am unwilling to take any drugs, so the cold seems a bit worse than it really is. Grandma G loaned me one of these yesterday. I was frightened at first, but once I tried it - it made a lot of sense. Today I feel like I am more on the mend. I'm hoping that feeling continues.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

They say it's June

...but you wouldn't know it from the weather this weekend.It's been so cold and rainy.The drizzle stopped enough today for a small group of us from the Roseville String Ensemble to play at a re-dedication of an amphitheater of a local park.

Let me tell you... it was cold. I was very thankful for my fingerless mitts - and yes, I kept them on during our performance. Did I say it was cold?

We had no idea just how cold and windy it would feel out at the park.Grandma and Grandpa pulled out the emergency blanket they had stashed in the car!

Thanks to Mr. 5 for taking a few photos while I was trying to keep my fingers warm and moving enough to play selections from Fiddler on the Roof and West Side Story. There is something special about playing show tunes in a park though. I don't get to do that enough.

Speaking of the photos. We got ourselves a new camera in preparation for a new spurt of important photo taking with Cupcake arriving this fall. Thanks, Bertha, for allowing us to upgrade with your upgrade.

Also in preparation for Cupcake...

...the Baby Surprise Jacket is finished. I used fingering weight, so it is small - but it is the perfect size for a newborn.I love how this pattern looks in a semi-solid yarn.

I love knitting away at the soothing garter stitch.

And I love the complete genius of Elizabeth Zimmerman - only an amazingly gifted knitting mind could come up with such a pattern.I am knitting a Sweet Baby Cap to match, and I might think about some booties or socks if I have enough yarn left after that.

I may need to make another BSJ in a slightly larger size, we will see.I did splurge last weekend and purchased a kit for a Tulip Cardigan (with the Anita's Rainbow set of colors), and I have some other ideas too. I'm not sure what I will start next.